Harry's Fate
by watersj13
Summary: This story is a must read.


A/N:I got this idea from reading a wide array of fan-fics by Intromit, S'Tarkan and Moxterminator.

All credit to them and I hope I will be able to pull this one off. This is my first fan-fic. So here goes nothing.

Not many things surprised or scared or fazed Harry James Potter anymore.

Realizing that he was a wizard, a really famous one at that, completely out of the blue at the age of 11 and that there actually exists a real "magical" world had taken care of the surprises.

Facing a troll, a professor harbouring Voldemort, a basilisk, a handful of dementors, a full grown dragon, dueling Voldemort, his death-eaters and some crazy dark-creature that Voldemort managed to unearth time and time again had taken care of the scares.

Watching as his friends, family, mentor et all dieing, many times while covering his back and saving his life one after the another and watching the magical world crumble bit by bit had taken care of the fazes.

So when in the middle of dueling the immortal Voldemort for what seemed like the thousandth time, he suddenly found himself in the middle of what seemed like endless mists in all directions and no sign of Voldemort he was surprised, scared and yes certainly fazed.

Surprised because he thought that today he would be done in for sure. He had started to weaken but Voldemort had simply seemed to have been feeding off the growing weakness. Being immortal certainly has it's advantages.

Then he was suddenly very scared as he realized that he might be dead. Dread coursed through his system as he realized that Voldemort and not he had fulfilled the prophecy and with him out of the way Voldemort had a bloody good shot at world domination or whatever he wanted to do with scores of slaves and minions and creatures that he was gathering.

And then his thoughts stumbled a bit as he realized that he didn't feel dead and that thought got him chuckling as he started wondering whether you are even supposed to feel being dead.

"Am quite glad to see that you can actually smile in spite of what you have been through."

Startled by the voice and cursing himself for letting his guard down, Harry immediately went into full combat mode which had been honed to near perfection with years of practice. He whipped around with cat-like reflexes and grace akin to a ballet-dancer and reached for his wand. Turning around he came to face a woman whom he could only describe as the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had long wavy hair of a colour Harry surprisingly couldn't quite place. The features of her face were striking to the point of being perfect. She looked young yet old and mature. She seemed to be dressed in what seemed to drapes of the finest silk possible. Her eyes! She had eyes whose colour too Harry couldn't recognize. But they were twinkling, sparkling and shining all at the same time if that was even possible. There also seemed to be a golden aura around her which was actually soothing Harry's frayed nerves.

It was then that he realised that he did not have a wand and he was dressed in nothing but his birthday suit.

In spite of the situation he surprisingly did not feel awkward but he was certainly speechless. He finally managed to get his tongue working and asked, "Err who are you? What…er…where is this? And what exactly am I doing here?"

"Well Harry I am Fate. You may call this my conference room and you are here because you deserve another chance and I have decided to offer it to you." She replied in a melodious voice.

"Another chance? So Voldemort finally killed me then. Wish I could remember it though. After all it's not everyday that you are killed by a Dark Lord who has been trying to kill you since before you were even out of nappies." Harry was quite surprised that he didn't even challenge what the woman told him and instead simply replied in what had become his very own trademark sarcastic style.

"Well technically you are not dead. But you would have died today. Of that I am quite certain. So I decided to pull you out for a second chance," her voice coming out melodiously sad.

"Second chance? Are you MAD? I think I have had enough of Voldemort to last me a thousand lifetimes! I have done enough fighting! I have had enough of people, people that I love and care for dieing on my bloody watch! No thanks but I will take the death and move on to 'The next Great Adventure' please if you don't mind. I have had enough of saving the world from big bad man. I am just sick of everything. You send me back and I will probably commit suicide or maybe even better hand myself over ceremoniously to Voldemort," seethed Harry and it surprisingly felt good to vent out his frustrations of years at Fate herself.

"Yes Harry I know that you are quite tired of deaths, killings and indeed the unfortunate way things have taken a turn for……"

"UNFORTUNATE way things have taken a turn for?? Bloody hell it's not simply an unfortunate mess back home. It's a damn catastrophe! England and almost half of the continent is nothing a massive graveyard. Those alive are either hiding with no possibility of a real life or are slaves for the amusement of Voldemort. All my friends, people for whom I care and love either have a grave somewhere in the middle of nowhere or are goddamned weapons for Voldemort to use as infernis. I have nothing and nobody left. Nobody to love and love me back. Give me one bloody reason for taking up your offer of this second chance." Harry was practically fuming at this point.

Fate only smiled warmly at this as if her point precisely had just been proven. "I am afraid you quite misunderstood me Harry. I never meant that you would be going back to the time you were in. You would be sent back to live almost your entire life again. You shall go back to your childhood years, just before you turned 11, just before you started your magical training and in a way begin from there again. Think of it as literally a rewinding of time."

For the second time in a day Harry was shocked, surprised and bothered beyond measurement. Thoughts were screeching across his mind at speeds he never imagined were possible. _'_Live through everything again? Yet get to see everyone Ron, Hermione, the Weasleys again. See Sirius, Remus hell even Snape the bloody spy who was loyal to Dumbledore till death again. See the Hogwarts castle in all it's glory once again. Live in the Burrow the one place which truly felt like home to him again. Fly for the sake of enjoying it.' But then doubts started to filter through. 'What if he was unable to stop the destruction again? What if he wouldn't be able to save all those lives again? What if he failed again?'

Finally he managed to string his thoughts together into a coherent and audible question, "Why do you want to send me back? Why couldn't you right it the first time? I mean you are 'Fate' herself aren't you?"

"Even I Harry cannot control the actions of living beings. I can only be the guiding force if you might. It would be rather complicated don't you think if I were to actually peter out everyone's life."

"Why are you giving me a second chance? I am sure there must have been many situations before me where things must have gone horribly wrong. Do you 'rewind the time' every time things go bad?"

"No Harry I have never done this before and I will probably never do this again for entire eternity. I can't rewind time at will. Fate is not almighty." Unless Harry was mistaken she almost looked relived that she was not almighty.

"Why me?"

"That Harry I cannot answer. For I am afraid I won't be able to explain. But I can do this only if you are willing. You will simply have to trust me." She seemed almost sad at this.

Harry watched her minutely. He desperately wanted to go back and alter and rectify dozens of things. Do so many things differently that he could hardly count them all. But some thing just felt amiss. It all seemed simply too good. In fact too good to be true. He finally put his doubts into words.

"There is a catch in it……isn't it?"

Fate smiled profoundly. "Yes Harry. Dare I say, quite a big catch as you put it?"

Fate waited for Harry to respond but he simply looked at her in the eyes and waited for her to complete her explanation.

"You will not have the memories and knowledge of your life so far when you embark upon it again." She waited for the explosion to come from Harry but it never did.

Harry almost smiled wryly. "I thought that there must be something like this. Life never was a bed if roses for me and even with my memories and the knowledge I doubt it would have been. Then how exactly am going to change things around if I go in blindly again?"

"You will not have any recollections Harry, however when you start over again you still will intellectually be the man you have become now. Just as mature. Just as perceptive. Just as wise and intelligent and profound. Just as confident. Just as loyal. Just as fun-loving. Just as loving."

Fate paused for a moment as she regarded Harry. "I will however allow you ability or one piece of knowledge that you will like to have. The rest of you and everyone else will remain the same they were at that time in your past."

Even as she made this offer Harry knew exactly what he wanted. The one thing he had consciously tried to avoid even thinking of. Infact he has a sneaking suspicion that Fate knew exactly what he would ask for. He was thoughtful but only for a moment. Then without hesitation he replied, "I would like to remember some form of my love for Ginny."

Fate beamed at Harry. "This Harry is the one of the many reasons why you and only you deserved the second chance."

Even as Harry finished hearing what Fate had said a golden light began enclosing him and the last thing Harry remembered was Fate's dazzling smile which somehow seemed to morph into one thing Harry had missed for a very long time; Ginny's radiant and contagious smile.


End file.
